The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1887-10-09
THE MAYORS BOMBSHELL
TO he DELTrERED At NEW TEAR's
IN THE SHAPE OF A MESSAGE

/
The Mayors Idea Of what .. Necessary 70
Perfect city Governracat-Mere Power
to the Right Kiud Of Man-street chses.
"If you could make the laws Of perfect
city what would they DO !" was asked OF Mayor
| Hewitt by SuN reporter the other day
Nobody ever did see or will sec perfect
city" said the Mayor; but generally speakins
should say the best plan would be to give un-
limited power to an honest and capable man."
What are the chief perplexities OF the
oflco 2" inquired the reporter.
Tho main difficulty Is that 40 little power ID
given. I suppose It 10 owing to the liabilities
Of human nature that power IL 30 much cir
cumscribed. Perhaps II Is necessary, but my
own beiefis, in short, that the best city Govern
ment would be one with large powers given to
an honest and capable man. But you must DO
sure and give such power to such man."
The fact Is that the lack OF power by the
Mayor has never been more signally shown
than during the active and vigorous adminis-
tration Of Mayor Hewitt. While poking around
among the departments. as directed By the
multitude OF complaints that have kept pour
Ing into the Mayors office. Mayor Hewitt has
been met at every turn by the practical demon
stration that the Mayors power is very much
limited. He has been called upon 80 often to
do things that he has no power to do that he
has sort Of stereotyped formula Of saying
ut Is out OF my bailiwick." Pretty much all
the effective work he has done has been through
the power Of letters and publicity
Although the Mayor has not been disposed
to talk about It, Indications have cropped out
that he has been preparing and IL preparing
bombshell for this new year inlthe shape Of
an annual MESSAGE. 1t Is said that no man
IL . hero TO biz valet" Il is an, old French
n IN N mn 20 a VIZ aat fTy1a n n HI
abilities. But this is not the case with the
Mayor He seems to carry beneath IN appar-
The amount Of work he has done during the
last six months In public and private business
Occasionally the Mayors visitors and inter-
no o
ns H. Sos h Sanss SaNa sas
s.s'I little BIRD says thai ths Mayor WI show
up in his message, in his characteristic. Wig
pality with reference to the control Of its own
siiairs. II came out plainly with reference to
3 IF ns % hs hn sS
v s6s q The city and them Ps
ffssslstnTs. ana sot sSoas Tie entire ely Coy:
are That the g next EessiatursSi be even more
stirred up by the Mayor and viii not be per. per.
W ulbpObo Vi AuboEcnLo Qulotly
Tho Mayors earnest effort to secure clean
bis Rehabilitation showed up The The banefui 81
feet Of legislative interference. BY which In va
rious ways the power to control the streets ms
This has been signaly illustrated in the exer;;
Else Of ths greet powers tltEustsd to the Bnnrd
Mayors Vigorous protest. Would have had about
nsn %Hss esd ft a
II this Board The only elected oilleIal n n e
e as n ths no city has 0ie.
Ssns sits lssrins a The LEDGER oo 5hs
Bsk9 tRs ' s
come. and 70 point out after the trouble hass
course the tearing up Of the. streets by the
subway already done, is only preparatory.
wires hs II in TIL the subway come to be conneesed
with the premises OF private consumers. The
probability appears to be that no important
dsssrbed 1S week at time, and that nothna
short Of portable pavement easily taken haEs up
meet the demands OF the various subterranean
Of the Mayors attention is the inadequate
methods Of administering criminal law. True.
Closed, but others remain. In some cases
complaint after complaint against tho same
place has failed to produce, remedy, Trials
are postponed or prevented, and bonds are q
farce, The criminal courts are SO overbur-
dened with cases awaiting trial that bail has
grown to be In many cases permit to con-
tinue crime.
The Mayor's vetoes OF Aldermen's resolu.
tons permitting street encumb rances would
fill big book. The vetoes are SO many that
large numbers are on stereotyped forms with
the names inserted.
The management Of affairs by the Police
Board has occupied a good deal Of the Mayors
attention. He has come to the conclusion that
Inadequate. He is in favor of q single. headed
Commission. This he is satisfied would cor.
rect many of the present evils. The last coup
oftheRepubl icanC Commissioners In getting pos.
session Of three out OF five 81 the election In.
He is satisfied that the Election Bureau should
be taken out Of the hands Of the Police Board.
and that the chief of the Bureau OF Elections
should not be VIGOROUSLY active political
partisan.